CLIENT CASE STUDY

DigitalGlobe: Using distributed resources to address vital software development commitments

Overview

DigitalGlobe and Accenture collaborated to solve system integration challenges through distributed resources for the aerospace and defense industry.

DigitalGlobe is a leading provider of commercial high-resolution earth
observation and advanced geospatial solutions. The company had a
need to complete a significant amount of development, testing and
systems engineering in order to launch a new satellite by its target date in
the summer of 2014. The joint DigitalGlobe and Accenture systems
integration team delivered the development and testing for the satellite
launch ahead of schedule, helping to deploy this significant investment on
time.

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The Approach

Opportunity

DigitalGlobe faced the need to complete a significant amount of
development, testing and systems engineering in order to launch a new
satellite by its target date in the summer of 2014. The company had just
finished a significant acquisition and was in the midst of integrating
processes and technology while concurrently working to complete the IT
work in advance of the satellite launch date.

DigitalGlobe’s commitment to drive shareholder value and launch the next
satellite as planned led executives to explore supplementing the team with
outside resources to complete the work in the desired time frame. Given
plans to continue its growth through acquisition, DigitalGlobe recognized it was quickly going to have to support a significant increase in software
development and testing requirements. Executives were interested in
exploring how a distributed model for software development and testing
could be leveraged for ongoing capacity needs.

Having a strong management consulting relationship with Accenture,
DigitalGlobe executives turned to Accenture for the additional IT capacity
and flexibility they needed. Accenture was asked to assist with
DigitalGlobe’s development and testing in advance of its satellite launch
and, in so doing, enable DigitalGlobe to test a distributed development
approach for ongoing systems integration efforts.

Solution

Accenture mobilized its resources quickly to support the satellite launch
program by providing 30 percent of the required development resources.
Skills provided spanned from systems engineering, requirements
development and technical design to application development and testing.
Accenture provided IT support with database administration, Linux,
network and virtualization specialists and custom Java development, SAP,
ETL and Oracle skills. Resources were split between DigitalGlobe’s
headquarters and Accenture’s Delivery Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Accenture was the first systems integrator to support DigitalGlobe, and the
engagement was the first distributed delivery model DigitalGlobe
employed. Executive leadership undertook an effort to migrate from a
waterfall to an agile development approach and establish consensus
across the various organizations around processes, roles, deliverables
and expectations with regards to the software development framework.

While involved in supporting the satellite launch effort, Accenture also
participated in this initiative, leading discussions on how to effectively bring
together project management across both agile and non-agile
development and create a comprehensive status reporting capability. The
development framework along with Accenture offered a substantial first
step toward standardizing DigitalGlobe’s large-scale global development.
DigitalGlobe now has a development framework to support its future
growth.

Results

The joint DigitalGlobe and Accenture systems integration team delivered
the development and testing for the satellite launch ahead of schedule,
helping to deploy this significant investment on time. The effort validated
that staff capacity support through a distributed model can be both
effective and efficient for DigitalGlobe, enabling the IT function to meet
timelines it would otherwise not be able to address and offering a strong
approach for addressing DigitalGlobe’s growing need for IT resources.

The joint DigitalGlobe and Accenture systems integration team delivered
the development and testing for the satellite launch ahead of schedule,
helping to deploy this significant investment on time.

The effort validated that staff capacity support through a distributed model
can be both effective and efficient for DigitalGlobe, enabling the IT
function to meet timelines it would otherwise not be able to address and
offering a strong approach for addressing DigitalGlobe’s growing need for
IT resources.

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